Barnsley boss Conor Hourihane addresses fans' transfer concerns as Reds seek to follow Lincoln City-type growth model.

The final day of the window ended in disappointing fashion for the Oakwell outfit, with many fans openly questioning the club's ambition and perceived lack of contingency planning after selling top-scorer Keillor-Dunn to Wrexham.

After consecutive play-off campaigns in 2022-23 and 2023-24 following relegation from the Championship, Barnsley are now on course for successive mid-table finishes.

Disillusioned supporters are starting to vote with their feet. Tuesday's crowd of 8,806 against Northampton was the club's lowest for a home league fixture in over a decade since November 2015.

On suggestions that few contingencies were made, Hourihane, whose side visit Bolton today, said: "What I will say is that there were recruitment meetings in place from a weekly basis from the start of December and we did everything possible to make the squad as strong as we can.

"Look, Davo obviously left very, very late. We knew Davo was a very, very good player and we weren't sure if anyone would come with a number that the club would be happy with.

"We all felt like it was a really good deal for all parties and then, obviously, we ended up where we were off the back of that late deal.

"I don't think there should be fingers pointed in terms of the process because it had started long before the January window."

While the likes of Yorkshire rivals Huddersfield Town spent big in the winter window, Barnsley lived within their means, with owner Neerav Parekh having consistently spoken about the club's need to be self-sustainable.

Hourihane recently spoke about the club not being the League One 'powerhouse' they once where and the need for patience to turn things around at Oakwell. Deadline-day events reconfirmed that.

"It's not a Stockport or Bolton scenario. It's not a Huddersfield scenario," he observed.

"I think we need to look at it in a little bit of a different way now.

"Lincoln's a very good example. They've built over the last three or four years and gone step by step. They're going to go very, very close this season and they've done incredibly well. There is a couple of clubs that you can identify that they approach it in a different way and we just have to at the minute.

"Hopefully, over time, we'll build a team and we'll get into a better place year on year and move forward and try and get into the Championship - where we all want to be by the way. Just in a slightly different way."

While Barnsley's ability to recruit young players with sell-on potential has had a number of successes over the years, balancing that policy with the recruitment of quality League One-ready signings heading towards the peak for decent fees like Keillor-Dunn has not always gone hand in hand.

Hourihane commented: "I think that those conversations will be happening (start) now over the next couple of months, whether we'll be using a free agent market to bring in an (Eoghan) O'Connell or Tennai Watson and helping young lads or spending some money to try and bring in a Keillor-Dunn to make you stronger.

"And then obviously you can still sell a Keillor-Dunn on for x-amount of money. There's a variety of ways you can go about your business."